BestDelegate.com

BestDelegate.Com Coming Back

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Hello everyone! BestDelegate.com has been on hiatus for the past summer, but we're coming back! In the meantime, here's some brief updates:

Follow us on Twitter! @bestdelegate #bestdelegate

Watch for tips on how to be better delegate and receive updates on latest posts! If you're at a MUN conference, tweet to us and maybe we'll respond with well wishes to your committee. (Opening speech in 140 characters??)

Have a question? We want to answer it!

This past summer, we've receive lots of questions on MUN preparation and research. Here at BestDelegate.com, we want you to write us with your questions and in the next few weeks, we'll respond here. If you're lucky, we might even do a video response!

Upcoming Conferences

UPMUNC XLIII

This weekend, University of Pennsylvania will be hosting its 43rd session of the University of Pennsylvania's Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC). Let us know if you're attending, and if so, what committee and country/position you're representing. I'm sure Ryan will be interested to hear from delegate participating in the Iranian Council of Ministers

Iberian Model United Nations

Also this weekend, the Iberian Model UN Conference will be hosted by the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon. IMUN has served high school students for 15 strong years. We'd definitely love to hear from any delegates attending the conference.

http://www.caislisbon.org/

Northwest Model United Nations Conference
NWMUN, hosted by a dedicated group of college students from the Pacific Northwest, will also have its ninth annual conference. I remember when NWMUN started as small training conference, and I'm glad to see it grow into a strong tradition. Learn more about NWMUN at http://www.nwmun.org.

Upcoming Posts

UNA-USA MUN 2010 had its Senior Secretariat applications due today. Within the next few days, we'll be coming up with a few helpful tips for anyone applying to conference staff for any conference.

Best wishes everyone!

Sarah

Unmoderated Comment Caucus - Model UN After College

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

BestDelegate.com wants to hear from you!

For those of you who have graduated from college, are you still involved with Model UN? If so, in what capacity?
For those of you still in school - high school, college, etc - do you see yourself being involved with MUN in the future?

Here at BestDelegate.com, we all recently graduated from college and have been in the workforce for over a year. Once in awhile, we'll volunteer to staff Model UN conferences, post some tips on working a committee, or even plan Model UN websites for a living.

Do Model UNers ever really leave Model UN or do they just take an extended break?

Model UN Calendars - who has them?

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Long, long, ago, when the BestDelegate.com writers were still competing in high school, UNA-USA's Education Department used to collect MUN conference information and created an annual publication detailing all conference information. In its heyday, the publication contained all the necessary contact information for 200+ MUN conferences. It was an invaluable resource for faculty advisors and MUN teams planning their travels.

Today, a simple google search on MUN calendar reveals a handful of websites that are trying to consolidate the Model UN database. Surprisingly, the best databases out there don't even show up as a top hit.

UNA-USA's Model UN Calendar - www.unausa.org/muncalendar
Earlier this year, UNA-USA launched its newly designed website, complete with new features being slowly rolled out. As a part of this transition, the Education Department and Web Managers designed a brand new calendar database. Prior to transition, the old MUN calendar had not been updated in years (it still had Commission on Human Rights as a committee option, eek!). Today, the calendar has been recently launched, but still lacks the same amount of entries as years past. Perhaps by the end of the year, the calendar will once again have 200+ conferences.

Global Model UN's Database - www.un.org/gmun
The UN's Department of Public Information is hosting its first annual Global Model UN Conference in Geneva, Switzerland this year. Last year, the UN Education-Outreach department took on the rather ambitious goal of gathering the contact information for ALL Model UN conferences around the world. Looking at the database, you'll find local high school conferences listed with the large international conferences. Unfortunately, the GMUN website does not provide contact information for any of the conferences. Perhaps the contact information will be released at GMUN 2009?

MUNmate.com
I actually found this while doing MUN research. This is the only Model UN website devoted to a database of conferences. Unfortunately, there's far too few conferences.

WorldMUN 2009
WorldMUN's website doesn't actually link to any conferences, but a post from of the organizers claims that they were going to post the MUN database online.

In the next couple of weeks we will gather the data of different MUN's around the world. This way we will be able to inform all our visitors about the possibilities of participating in other MUN's. Why? Because students might want to practice in other MUN's to prepare for WorldMUN or just like to participate in a MUN. WorldMUN is still a couple of months away (it takes place in March 2009).

If you are organizing a MUN, you can let us know by sending an email to board@worldmun2009.org

Please indicate when and where your MUN takes place, whether you have a website for your MUN and how many students you expect. We will then contact you.

At the end we will be able to create a MUN calendar, and we will put it on our website.

Where do you go for Model UN conference information? Do databases like these even help or is it easier to just do an online search for conferences?

How to Combine Resolutions in Thirty Minutes or Less

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:06:00 +0000

This post was actually written by Ryan Villanueva for the UNA-USA MUN Chronicle.

How to Combine Resolutions in Thirty Minutes or Less

It’s coming down to the wire. The unmoderated caucus is complete chaos as delegates scramble to combine their resolutions. The chair is banging the gavel frantically, demanding drafts within the hour so that the committee has time to vote before closing ceremonies. You’re standing between two caucus blocs with two competing resolutions in hand, surrounded by delegates screaming suggestions at you on what operative clauses to cut and what to add, all of them telling you what to do. What do you do?

This is a common situation at many MUN conferences and they almost always end badly. But here’s a couple tips to help you through the best of a bad situation.

1. First, realize that the resolution will not be ideal. If you’re under pressure to finish a resolution, you won’t have time to iron out all the details. You have to work with what you have and just get something finished. You also need to manage other delegates’ expectations accordingly. The final document might not make everyone happy, but they can be satisfied with the result by realizing that it is a compromise between everyone’s ideas.

2. Take 5 minutes to figure out a structure to the new resolution. Your topic can be broken down into various issues and a given operative clause most likely addresses one issue. When combining resolutions, you can group together the operative clauses that address the same issue. This makes it easier to see what clauses are similar and can be combined, or what clauses have irreconcilable differences and can be deleted. (Go toBestDelegate.com and read my various posts on “Framing”) At the same time, assign one person the task of separately combining perambulatory clauses.

3. Now that you have a new resolution structure, take 10 minutes to go through each operative clause in the two (or more) resolutions and assign them to various sections of the new resolution. Now you have a complete draft that everyone can discuss.

4. With the new draft in hand and everyone around you, take 15 minutes to read through the clauses in front of everyone. Quickly read through the shorter and least controversial clauses and focus more time on the bigger and more controversial ones. And by focus more time, I mean whittling down troublesome clauses into language that everyone can agree on. This is no longer the time to come up with new ideas; you just need to get it done. This will undoubtedly weaken certain ideas, but that is the nature of compromise and the ever present dilemma of the United Nations.

5. Take 5 more minutes to make minor changes, correct grammar, and make sure people understand the gist of the new draft. Then submit your resolution to the chair!

I hope that these tips helps, but the biggest determinant of success behind combining resolutions is whether the two resolutions are truly similar and if the blocs can work together. If there are too many controversial ideas and irreconcilable differences, then the two resolutions should not be combined in the first place.

BestDelegate.com and UNA-USA MUN X - web2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Hello Model UNers! Everyone here at BestDelegate.com have been quite busy for the past few weeks. Ryan, Kevin, and I were all together last May at the tenth annual UNA-USA MUN conference held at the UN Headquarters.

I wanted to direct you all to the UNA-USA MUN Conference Chronicle (www.unausa.org/unausamun/chronicle), a live blog of the conference written by high school students and managed by college students. In the past, the Conference Chronicle has been a printed edition, but this year, UNA-USA decided to become web 2.0. Check out the interview posts on Ryan and myself.

The Conference Chronicle wasn't the only Internet resources UNA-USA was using. Eduardo Molina, the Under Secretary-General for Conference Services, linked twitter, google documents, and draft resolution production. Every time a complete draft resolution was uploaded to google documents, a tweet would go out indicating that the draft resolution was typed and ready to be photocopied. Chairs who were following the conference services tweet had a good idea about when resolutions would be delivered to the committee room.

Using technology and social media in Model UN conferences isn't a brand new thing. The majority of Model UN Conferences have a facebook group or fan page or a google e-mail account. BestDelegate.com is curious to know what other technology tools Model UNers have been using at conferences. Were they successful? Were they a distraction? What are your thoughts on the topic.

Kevin with Ravi, UNA-USA-MUN 2008 Chief of Staff
Photo by Milan Stanic, photo from UNA-USA's Flickr

(Right) Eduardo Molina, USG of Conference Services
Photo by Milan Stanic, photo from UNA-USA's Flickr

Be a Best Listener to be Best Delegate

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Listening during Model UN speeches or resolutions is easy. A delegate listens to the speaker, finds a point that he/she agrees or disagrees on, and essentially makes a comment or asks a question based off the agreement or disagreement.

Listening during Model UN unmoderated/informal caucus is hard. This is partly because delegates have to deal with rapid, on-going dialogue that requires an interactive response. But it is also partly because delegates were probably never taught how to listen during an unmoderated/informal caucus (or think it's appropriate to not listen at all!). The Best Delegate knows that effective listening builds trust and respect, and also knows that delegates with different listening approaches need to be influenced differently.

So, 'listen' up as we explain how to handle listening approaches for several types of delegates:

Gunner: these are the delegates who are constantly rushing around the room during caucus and think they have more important tasks to do than listen to you.
> Approach: Catch their attention and get to the point quickly. For example, "Gambia, I need your undivided attention for just a moment. Operative 6 has some weaknesses and Ghana and I would like to edit it before we submit the draft resolution to the dais."

Hardballer: these are delegates who are not truly listening to you and once they have the gist of the conversation, will interrupt to take it over with their own comments.
> Approach: Stop and let them talk. When they are done, you should say "As I was saying before..." to imply to them their interruption. If you are a more assertive delegate, step into the middle of the bloc, turn to a few delegates that the hardballer isn't directly facing and then re-start the conversation. You will have essentially cut the hardballer's audience in half.

Over-thinker: these are delegates who like to over-analyze, place doubt on an idea, have everything perfect, or are too detail-oriented. They may hold your bloc back from making quick decisions when the committee is going down the wire.
> Approach: Give them a 'yes or no' decision with a sense of urgency or be clear that analysis or advice is inappropriate at the moment. For example, "Laos, we only have 2 more minutes in this caucus, I need you to say yes or no to adding this as a friendly amendment to our resolution."

Passive Follower: these are delegates who may not be fully listening (e.g. passersby or bored delegates) or may not fully understand what you are saying (e.g. newer delegates), resulting in your inability to fully influence them or gain support.
> Approach: Ask them a specific question on an idea you just said to check for their understanding or attentiveness. For example, "Paraguay, what do you think about the vaccination program I just suggested?" or more assertively "Slovenia, I'd like your input on the funding idea I just proposed."

Attentive Delegate: these are delegates who are listening and you can tell by the thought they put in into your ideas.
> Approach: Be sure to acknowledge their attentiveness. This reinforces them to continue listening to you. For example, at the end of the unmoderated/informal caucus session, you could say, "Italy, I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my ideas."

The Rogue Delegate: though less common, these are delegates who have policies that disagree with just about anybody (e.g. North Korea or Iran in some cases), may just be playing devil's advocate, or may just be a complete disrupter to the committee.
> Approach: You can acknowledge historical disgareement and start dialogue with them on what can be reasonably accomplished going forward. If they continue to be disruptive, then ignoring their antics usually works.

How to Win Best Delegate: Framing Your Topic

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I was coaching for a Bay Area high school in preparation for the UC Davis Model United Nations Conference, and the students asked a good question: how do we go about researching our topic when the background guide or topic synopsis has not been posted yet? If you want to be the Best Delegate, you cannot wait for the chair to post the guide (or rely on background guides that may not be written with a clear framework of issues to address). The procrastination-busting technique that I recommend you take the initiative to use is Framing Your Topic. Here’s how the three-part process works:

First, you frame your topic. Brainstorm six to ten different sub-issues that you might encounter regarding this topic. If you have trouble brainstorming, think of sub-issues categorically: political, economic, social, financial, humanitarian, environmental, security, etc.

Next, list adjacent to each sub-issue in your framework the past actions that have been taken to resolve that sub-issue as well as possible solutions that your country has proposed or would like to propose.

Finally, you select the three most salient sub-issues to your country. These will become the three key points you will use when you Frame Your Speech and will be central to your position paper and draft resolution. You will want to conduct more research into them so you can become the subject matter expert on them when they are debated at the conference. Of course, you will also want to be familiar with the other points that you have framed because you can include them in your resolutions, and some of these will be the key points for other delegates and you will want to be knowledgeable enough to collaborate with them on these sub-issues.

Here are two examples of UC Davis topics that the students I was working with brainstormed on the spot:

Topic: Nuclear Proliferation
1. Technology transfer (by governments and individuals)
2. Government Policies toward nuclear weapons
3. Security (of stockpiles, facilities, etc.)
4. Internal strife (e.g. Pakistan)
5. Disarmament of stockpiles
6. Economic arguments behind proliferation
7. Security/alliance factors behind proliferation
8. Terrorism

Topic: Preservation of Indigenous Languages
1. Suppression by governments
2. Language and cultural dominance
3. Official language policy
4. Grassroots/local efforts in preservation
5. Education & research
6. Incentives for indigenous language abilities

These will need to be filled in with past actions and proposed solutions, but that requires research of your topic and an understanding of your country policy. A filled-in sub-issue will look like this:

Sub-Issue --> Past Actions --> Proposed Solution

Note that the above frameworks are comprehensive but not complete. You could probably brainstorm a few more sub-issues for each. More important, when the background guide or topic synopsis gets posted, make sure you read to understand what sub-issues your Chair wants the committee to address and adjust your framework accordingly.

If you have trouble with framing, I would suggest getting your entire class or club do it for the topic. I found that brainstorming as a group produced much more comprehensive lists of sub-issues than individually trying to dissect your topic.

----

P.S. Some members of the Best Delegate team will be volunteering at the UNA-USA MUN Conference in May, and we look forward to meeting any of our readers who will be participating at the conference!

Sales Strategies for Model UN: Cushioning Statements

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Salespeople use Cushioning Statements when they want to allow the customer to feel heard, enable the customer to gain confidence in the salesperson, and when the salesperson wants the customer to open up his/her thoughts. In Model UN, it is a strategy that the Best Delegate may use when he or she too wants other delegates to feel heard and enable other delegates to gain confidence and trust in him/her.

Here are some examples:

* Good question!
* I'm glad you asked...
* Another delegate asked me that earlier.
* Interesting point.
* I haven't heard that argument made yet.
* I understand, but...
* I understand, and...
* That's a legitimate concern.
* I can see why your country would agree/disagree with this policy/idea/operative clause/etc.

Think for a moment that you're a delegate with a real question or concern. Wouldn't you feel at least a little more respected or heard if another delegate replied with one of those Cushioning Statements before launching into his/her response? I sure would.

There are many situations in Model UN when you can insert a Cushioning Statement to make other delegates feel like they can trust you or that you care about their questions and opinions: when you yield your speech time to questions, when you are defending your policies or solutions in an unmoderated or informal caucus, and when you are answering questions during formal caucus. You can even insert Cushioning Statements into your speech, although Cushioning Statements are usually most effective when directed at the individual delegate that is questioning or interacting with you.

Try some of these next time, and post in the Comments section some of the Cushioning Statements that you use!

--

By the way, if you missed it, we previously went over another sales strategy called the 'stripping line' that the Best Delegate can use to diffuse negativity from aggressive delegates. Look for more sales strategies to come!

Model UN Staffing Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:33:00 +0000

This week, we have a guest post! Sarah Lambino works for the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). Through the Global Classrooms program, Sarah introduces Model United Nations to public high schools and middle schools in major cities around the United States. She helps teachers use Model UN to teach their students about international issues by providing educational materials and organizing MUN conferences.

Her post is about applying for conference staff. Many schools use an application; some schools don't; but most national-level conferences such as UNA-USA MUN have an especially competitive application process. If you've never staffed a conference before, I'd encourage you to think about it; you can learn a lot by seeing MUN from the other side of the committee room. Sarah's post will give you plenty of insight into gaining that perspective.

Sarah speaking at the United Nations

Some people win "Best Delegate." Me? I hire them.

As a conference organizer at UNA-USA, it's my job to hire 200+ college and high school students for the 13 conferences we hold around the country. In this post, I'd like to share some of the things I've learned about what separates a good conference from a bad conference: the people who run them.

Think for a moment about some of the conferences you've attended and what made them memorable. More often than not, it had something to do with someone on the conference staff. It might just be a really cool Chair who was laidback but knew how to keep decorum. Perhaps it was the Secretary-General who handled a problem you had with a committee room. Or maybe it was that Rapporteur who misspelled Thailand as "Tieland."

A conference succeeds or fails on the quality of its staff. So how do you select the best staff? Many conferences use an application.

Model UN applications contain similar questions. Below are the three main areas conference organizers are looking at in an applicant.

Model UN Experience – Conferences attended and staffed, committees you've participated in, awards won. If you're starting out, definitely keep track of the different committees you've participated in as a delegate. It will save you a good 15 minutes when you're trying to remember what committee you were on when you got the best position paper award in your junior--no, wait, senior--year of high school. I think it was Berkeley Model UN 2003, ECOFIN, Syrian Arab Republic...

Communication Skills – Basic writing and public speaking skills. As a Model UNer--and BestDelegate.com reader--you should know that strong communication is key to being successful in committee as a delegate. But as a potential staffer, your focus changes from "How do I win over X delegate?" to "How do I manage all the delegates?" Some conferences also require you to write background guides if you are selected to be on staff. And if you're looking to be a chair, speaking skills will be a major factor.

Interest in Model UN and the Conference – What do you know about the conference and why do you want to be a part of it? Use your niche conference research skills and show off how you intend to contribute. These questions usually come in many forms. "What did you like about this conference and what would you change?" also means "Do you know what we're about?" Another similar question: "We know what are strengths and weaknesses are. What do you think they are?" Questions that ask you to describe a particular situation are tests to see if you can follow procedure and have the common sense to handle difficult circumstances.

The information I just described is pretty standard for any hiring process, but don't forget that this hiring process is also a way for you to get to know the conference, too. Does the hiring process seem too lengthy? Are there too many redundancies in the forms and questions? Or perhaps the event organizers are not answering your questions? You can begin to manage your expectations of conference staffing through the application process.

Remember: like being a best delegate, there is no definitive guide for being the best conference staffing applicant. Every conference, every conference organizer, every organization differs in their goals and values for what makes a successful Model UN staffer.

"Competing" in Model UN

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:50:00 +0000

In the spirit of Kevin's post on the return of the MUN season, I'd like to share excerpts from an e-mail exchange between me and someone wanting to become more "competitive" at Model UN.

My Response

I believe that becoming "competitive" at Model UN means developing proficiency in various skills that enable you to demonstrate leadership throughout an MUN conference. By skills, I mean broad skills, such as research and public speaking, but also strategic skills, such as deciding what country you want to represent at a conference and what ideas you should present to the committee, as well as tactical skills, such as choosing with which delegates to form an alliance. And by leadership, I mean a trait that other delegates and the chair apply to you because you are able to lead the committee to find some sort of solution to the problem it faces; this is a trait that must be earned. This focus on skills and leadership is the bedrock of the BestDelegate.com philosophy.

So if skill proficiency leads to leadership, which leads to success, then how do you develop such skills? The only real way, of course, is experience: going to as many MUN conferences as possible, practicing with your club, etc. You can also deliberately practice individual skills, i.e. researching papers transfers to researching for a conference, being an active participant in a small seminar is much like speaking in a small committee, etc. Having someone coach you is important, too; solicit feedback on how you are doing from older MUNers in your club whom you trust. And it helps to have some theory, i.e. BestDelegate.com =P

From the sound of your e-mail, I hope you don't feel intimidated by the "competitive" aspect of MUN. By this, I mean awards, and how aggressive other people might be in trying to win them; such things are meant to be incentives to take this seriously, but they are not to be the point of doing MUN. This activity is one huge "head fake" (see Randy Pausch, "The Last Lecture") to develop the skills mentioned above, which are transferable to other endeavors in life, to meet intelligent and interesting people, which sounds like you have, and to learn something about international relations and, maybe, human behavior and social interaction. It sounds like you already have a good approach to MUN; I would just encourage you to jump in, and do as much of this stuff as you can, and don't worry so much about being "competitive." Learn from others; be an active and thoughtful participant; and most importantly, have fun!

The Counter-Argument

I do agree that the most important aspect of participating in a MUN conference is the personal growth that comes from doing so; however, the awards seem to allow greater involvement in the college circuit - those who do well are frequently asked to return. For this reason, it seems harder to "try my hand" at Model UN that at other college activities, because reputation is important and I understand that the club seeks those who can uphold its reputation.

Developing Leadership vs. Winning Awards: An Actual Dilemma?

I think that my response captures part of our "MUN philosophy" here at BestDelegate.com: focus less on awards and approach MUN as a way to develop your leadership skills. But the counter-argument illustrates a central dilemma within the Model UN community: awards may not be the point of doing MUN, but winning them enables greater participation, which hopefully leads to the development of leadership skills.

This may be a short e-mail exchange, but it is an interesting snapshot of how different people view MUN. I'd love to know what other people think.

Conference results: Berkeley wins Best Delegation at UCLA College Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:19:00 +0000

The UC Berkeley team took Best Delegation at the Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference hosted by Model United Nations at UCLA this past weekend. Stanford took Outstanding Delegation. Seems like a nice college rivalry is carrying over to Model UN. We'll get recaps and insights from UCLA staff and from delegates who attended this conference.

Several other high school and college conferences took place this weekend. There also some major conferences being held later this month, including the Yale Model UN Conference at the high school level and McMUN hosted by McGill at the college level. We hope to hear from staffers and participants at the upcoming conferences as well.

If you'd like to write a recap, conference review, or a particularly insightful experience, send us an email!

For examples, see:
> Delegate review/experience of AIMUN
> Delegate review of Harvard National (part 1)
> Delegate review of Harvard National (part 2)
> Staff experience at Yale MUN

Conference Season is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:14:00 +0000

Conference season is back!! I'm really excited about that because the Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference (LAMUNC) hosted by Model United Nations at UCLA kicks it off this weekend. The conference is already expected to be bigger than last year's, and knowing the crisis team and technology that they have this year, I'm sure it'll be better than ever.

The great thing about this conference is that I took part in building it up from scratch, and over the past few years, I've also seen participating travel teams grow and market themselves effectively. We've already been emailed some questions on conference development as club officers start planning for the spring, and there are plenty of conferences ahead in the next few months to strengthen and market your travel team, so look forward to us sharing some excellent tips in the near future on how to grow your conference and travel team.

Good luck to all the delegates participating at the conference!

Sales Strategies for Model UN: Stripping Line Technique

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:15:00 +0000

When you are presenting a draft resolution during formal caucus, you need to have the mindset of a salesperson. Your product is your draft resolution, and your potential customers are all the other delegates who have yet to be convinced to vote for your resolution. Therefore, it may be valuable to learn the strategies that salespeople use in order to successfully pitch their product.

I will share several sales techniques with you on this blog that you can apply to Model UN, starting off with the "stripping line." In the sales profession, a salesperson uses the stripping line technique when he allows an angry repeat customer to vent while pausing from his sales pitch, and then re-directs the conversation when the customer has ran out of steam. This prevents the salesperson from having to be on the defensive at the customer's will or from aggravating the customer to be even more negative.

In Model UN, you may ocassionally come across an aggressive delegate from a rival bloc who is passionately opposed to your draft resolution. When you yield to questions during formal caucus, this delegate will often ask an animated, negatively rhetorical, and extremely long-winded question in order to point out flaws in your draft resolution rather than provide you with a clear, answerable question. The question is meant to put you on the defensive if not stump you and make you look bad. This is where you can use the stripping line technique.

It's very simple: don't try to answer the delegate's question... at least not yet. The animated and long-winded question is just the delegate venting out negativity, just like how the angry customer vented some steam to the salesperson. Instead, ask the delegate to please repeat (or clarify) the question.

Oftentimes, the delegate will be caught in surprise that he didn't stump you with his supposedly rhetorical question. The delegate probably won't be able to ask the question in the same passionate and long-winded fashion the second time around, and any delegate who tries will probably look like he's trying too hard. Furthermore, the question will probably be more concise the second time around since the delegate thinks he wasn't able to get his rhetoric across the first time. To complete the sales analogy, this is when you have re-directed the delegate from negative rhetoric to asking a clearer question that you can provide an answer to.

Granted, such animated, negatively rhetorical, and long-winded questions do not come up at most formal caucuses. Most longer questions are due to delegates not having mastered being concise, so you don't need to apply this technique and can just answer the question then. But in case you do come across a passionately negative delegate whose intent is clearly to challenge you, you now know that all it takes to diffuse some negativity and force the questioner to be more concise is to simply ask the delegate to "please repeat the question."

Niche Conferences and Their Benefits to Conference Organizers

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:47:00 +0000

In a previous post, we explored why niche conferences, particularly those at the college level such as SCSY, NCSC, ChoMUN, LAMUNC, VICS, PICSim, and CMMUNY, are great for delegates. Niche conferences are also popular at the college level from the perspective of the conference organizer for three reasons: the creativity of its members, the crisis experience of its members, and the recognition of attendance difficulties.

Conference organizers at the college level may have established specialty interests and combined with creativity are able to produce many original committees and/or crisis scenarios. Specialty interests, whether they are personal or career-related, drive chairs to create committees that match those interests. For example, I was very interested in the influence multinational corporations have on international relations, so I created the World Economic Forum committee where delegates could represent corporations’ views on world issues. I have a friend who decided to apply her internship experience with UN Peacekeeping and created a crisis committee that simulated the 1994 Rwanda conflict from the UN Peacekeepers’ perspective. Another friend is a huge soccer fan, so he created and chaired a FIFA committee. These committees tend to be fun and refreshing, and perhaps better run than a traditional committee, because the chair is often devoted to turning their creativity into a reality.

In-depth experience with crisis committees is the other driver of college-level chairs to create crisis committees. These chairs have experienced as delegates not just the basic news update or guest speaker, but the assassination attempts, committee raids, spying, backstabbing, terrorist ultimatum videos and so forth that sparks their own ideas and interests to create a crisis map. At a large university, there may also be broader access to props (think about all the different countries that the collective club membership has traveled to), military equipment if your campus has ROTC, as well as a good video production guy. Combined, these people will be very excited at the opportunity to get their creative juices flowing and will have a lot of fun creating and professionally executing stunningly debate-provoking crisis scenarios.

A more sobering reason why niche conferences are beneficial to conference organizers at the college level is the recognition of attendance difficulties. This reason can apply for some high school organizers or potential organizers as well. If it is financially difficult for teams to attend your conference, or if you face a saturated market, it may be smart to offer a smaller niche conference to match a realistic market share that your conference can capture.

Unlike at the high school level where a conference may be an hour bus ride away, significant travel expenses are required to attend most college conferences. Teams only have a certain budget and cannot afford to attend too many conferences. Therefore, not every conference will attract enough delegates to host full-sized General Assembly and ECOSOC committees that are a cornerstone of the traditional Model UN conference. By employing smaller niche committees, conference organizers with say, 25 delegates to work with can fill them up in a Future Security Council committee rather than put those 25 delegates into a half-full ECOSOC committee. I think any conference that recognizes the need to treat delegates with good customer service would prefer lively debate and a good delegate experience over futile attempts at filling up larger “cash cow” committees.

For leaders of Model UN conference organizers (or potential conference organizers) who are reading this post, the takeaway could be that if your club wants to a host a conference but for a variety of reasons cannot immediately attract large numbers of delegates, or if your club has members that enjoy crisis and creativity, hosting a niche conference may be your solution. I will note that it is not easy to generate thoughtfully-created original committees or crisis scenarios and doing so does require a degree of Model UN experience. So if your program is considering entering the niche market but does not have the crisis experience, perhaps pursuing an all-Security Council conference, a novice-only or training conference, or a conference with smaller specialized committees that don’t deviate too far from traditional committees (think regional committees like EU, OAS, etc.) may be more feasible.

Pushers and Leaders II: How to Veto the Power Delegate in your Resolution Bloc

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:25:00 +0000

One of the best ways to handle a power delegate during an unmoderated caucus is to diplomatically "moderate" the unmoderated caucus bloc and force the power delegate to listen rather than speak. Assuming that you have established yourself as the respectful and respected caucus bloc leader and are able to empower the rest of the bloc to participate with you, this technique may force the power delegate to seek another caucus bloc because he/she might not be able to dominate the discussion and take leadership in the resolution-writing process.

However, the power delegate may decide to join the caucus bloc that you are leading anyway and become a sponsor. This can become a problem if the power delegate continually attempts to assert control of the bloc and ownership of the resolution; the power delegate wants to be seen as the leader of the bloc. What often transpires next is that after some back-and-forth debate over wording between you and the power delegate in order to exercise ownership over different clauses, the bloc will generally come to an agreement on a draft resolution and submit it. Then, in order to gain additional ownership of the draft resolution, the power delegate will insert a bunch of operatives that he/she had been withholding or had overheard in committee, and having been exhausted from the debate earlier or believing that these amendments will gain votes, the rest of the bloc will just go along with it and sign onto them as friendly amendments. The bloc (and you) will increasingly lose control as your agreement becomes more of a formality than a negotiation in the power delegate's rise in ownership of the draft resolution.

The best delegate though, knows how to turn a rule into a strategy. The rule is, in order for an amendment to be considered friendly, all sponsors must agree. Conversely (and this is often left unexplained), it also means that if any one sponsor disagrees, the amendment becomes unfriendly and is subject to voting by the committee, which is a situation the power delegate would rather not face due to the potential for rejection. Therefore, at any point, you can disagree and essentially veto the power delegate from asserting control over your draft resolution. If your disagreement is considerate to your loyal bloc allies and principled (on policy), you will have striped the power delegate of his/her source of power, the agreeing but exhausted group of sponsors.

This technique can be especially devasting to a power delegate who is trying to push you or an ally off formal caucus representation. Power delegates from opposing blocs may decide to merge resolutions to not only make it seem as if they were strong negotiators who could command a majority vote to pass resolutions, but to also push off the weaker formal caucus members (assuming only a limited number of sponsors can present during formal caucus) and prevent them from gaining ownership, visibility, and perhaps points. In fact, if your caucus bloc is small and contains a power delegate, it will most likely be "swallowed" by the bigger bloc when the two draft resolutions merge; the bigger bloc will insist that they deserve a higher proportion of representation leaving your original bloc with only one representative... yes the power delegate who the other bloc believes is your bloc's leader.

But a merger is essentially a gigantic amendment to the draft resolution, so in order for draft resolutions to be merged, all sponsors on both sides must agree. Again, this is where you can decide to disagree, effectively vetoing the merger. This sends a message to the supposed power brokers that any decisions to merge will have to go through you. Be persistent and do not fold under peer pressure, assuming again that your disagreement is considerate to your loyal bloc allies and principled (on policy). Your loyal bloc allies will see right through the power delegates' attempt to use the bloc for his/her own gain and will respect you for standing up to him/her.

One word of caution though: make sure you understand the conference's philosophy. A Model UN conference that favors principled negotiation will most likely have chairs that look down upon this strategy because they would rather see a delegate navigate the compromise process and merge his/her resolutions rather than respect that delegate for leading a particular bloc or authoring many good ideas. In other words, saying "no" to a seemingly agreeable idea is seen as undiplomatic, whereas in other conferences, saying "no" is a strategy and a leader's right. (You can tell if a conference philosophy is the latter when multiple blocs have essentially the same ideas and decide to pass each others' resolutions rather than merge).

Vetoing a power delegate's amendment or desire to complete a backdoor merge is a very simple technique, but I rarely see delegates using it. As a sponsor, you always have the right to say "no" to changes and additions to a resolution that you helped author. Don't allow the power delegate to take that authorship away from you.

Model UN Community News

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:30:00 +0000

BestDelegate.com will periodically feature news and highlights of Model UN programs and conferences. We hope that this not only helps bring better recognition of a program's or conference's accomplishments but to also better connect the Model UN community.

Here are some links to interesting stories from the past few weeks:

Baylor University wins Best Delegation at the American Model United Nations Conference in Chicago

A Montessori school in Maryland starts a Model UN program for elementary school students

William & Mary is successful in hosting their 22nd annual WMHSMUN Conference

The Model UN program at Whitman College gains momentum and recognition

The United Nations Association of Serbia announced that it will be hosting its annual Belgrade International Model United Nations Conference from March 5-8, 2009

Of course, many of these news items above make for interesting discussion topics and potential future posts:

> I've known that Baylor is a strong Model UN program on the college circuit since they've won delegation awards at the UC Berkeley Conference as well. What makes the Baylor team successful?

> My friend Sarah works at the United Nations Association of the USA and points out that Model UN is growing rapidly at the middle school level. But what do you think about doing Model UN at the elementary school level? What are the positive and negative long-term ramifications of someone starting Model UN at a very young age?

> Whitman College was able to market the momentum and recognition that its Model UN program is gaining. If your club is not as established, marketing can go a long way in helping your program gain school/district funding as well as support from the administration. How can your program better market itself to its 'investors' that could in turn make the program even more successful and marketable?

Niche Conferences and Their Benefits to Delegates

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:48:00 +0000

Model United Nations conferences traditionally feature a balanced lineup of General Assembly, ECOSOC, Specialized, and Crisis committees. One would notice that at the college level though that there are many well-attended conferences that have committee lineups that look nothing at all like the traditional conference lineup. Instead, these conferences focus on creative committees, specialized committees, and crisis simulation, with the committees generally being small in size. Examples of such lineups can be found at conferences hosted by:

Yale: SCSY
Georgetown: NCSC
University of Chicago: ChoMUN
UCLA: LAMUNC
University of Virginia: VICS
Princeton: PicSIM
Columbia: CMMUNY

These conferences can be referred to as niche conferences. But why are niche conferences more prevalent in the college circuit than they are in the high school circuit? This post will explore three reasons from a delegate’s perspective, and a future second post will offer explanations as to why the niche committee lineup is a smart choice for certain conference organizers.

From a delegate’s perspective, these are college students majoring in international relations, political science, or other relevant majors, or at least have a strong interest in international affairs. Furthermore, most have developed their leadership, negotiation, public speaking, and debate skills at the high school level either from Model UN, speech and debate, Mock Trial, JSA, leadership, or other related activities. College delegates therefore desire a more quick and intense debate where they can challenge each other’s knowledge and viewpoints as well as sharpen their delegate skills, and smaller or crisis-oriented committees can provide that. Veteran delegates who seek a refreshing Model UN experience will also find this in creative and crisis-oriented committees.

College delegates also realize the networking potential of Model UN; many of these like-minded individuals will enter similar career fields: law, international relations, government, business, non-profit, etc. Networking (a topic that will be explored in a future blog post) is much easier to do in smaller committees. One of the biggest differences between college and high school Model UN is that college delegates, who may be participating in smaller-sized committees, usually introduce themselves with the country they are representing and with their name, whereas in high school using your personal name is often discouraged. At the very least, college students are also mature enough to establish friendships or even long-distance romantic relationships with delegates from other schools. My personal example of the networking benefits of Model UN is this summer when I backpacked Western Europe with three friends who I met from three different Model UN programs and visited friends in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Singapore who I also met through Model UN. Never would I have imagined visiting Bosnia if it weren’t for Model UN!

Finally, many college Model UN delegates are career-oriented and will find committees that match their career interests very appealing. United Nations diplomats are not the only people who influence foreign policy these days, and diplomacy is not the only career field that requires Model UN skills. A presidential cabinet, a corporate board of directors or a sporting organization can influence world issues too, and corresponding simulations such as Barack Obama’s Cabinet, Google Management Team, and International Olympic Committee provide experience and insight into these diverse players. Experience in such committees can even provide a resume boost; I know one Model UN friend who had to do research on Google’s policies and partially attributes that experience to her being hired by Google.

Niche conferences are beneficial for delegates who have advanced knowledge and skills, are able to take advantage of the smaller size for networking (although you should be networking to some extent regardless of the size of your committee), and can participate in committees that match their career interests. These committees are actually very fun and I would highly encourage experienced delegates, particularly those at the college level, to try them once they have some traditional Model UN experience under the belt.

Introducing: Mr. Secretary-General of the Model United Nations!

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Allow me to introduce a new writer to BestDelegate.com: Mr. "Secretary-General of the Model United Nations" himself, Kevin Felix Chan!

It would be one thing to list off Kevin's lengthy MUN resume: running his high school MUN conference, leading the UCLA MUN team as Head Delegate, and introducing his real-life counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly Hall as Secretary-General of UNA-USA MUN 2008. (Oh, the irony!)

But more important to me is that I've known KFC since we both started doing MUN in Orange County over eight years ago. Whether debating him in caucus during our high school days or serving under him as part of the UNA-USA MUN staff, it's always been a pleasure working with him, and I likewise look forward to working with him here. I like to think that our friendship is a testament to the kind of bond that can be formed through MUN, and through this website the kind of which we can foster for others.

KFC joins BestDelegate.com as a permanent writer, focusing on conference organizing and the West Coast circuit. I look forward to reading his articles, and I hope you will, too!

And by the way, I wasn't kidding when I called him Mr. "Secretary-General of the Model United Nations;" that's what the real Secretary-General calls him! (at minute 0:58 below, or go here)

Lacking a Partner in a Double Delegation Committee

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:57:00 +0000

A group of high school sophomores going to their first overnight conference e-mailed me this question:

"How do you survive in a double delegation committee if you do not have a co-delegate? Is it a big disadvantage not having one, or does it not make a difference?"

This is an excerpt from my reply:

"Everything is a matter of perspective. From your perspective, that of a delegate, it is clearly a disadvantage to not have a co-delegate; there is one of you and two of them, i.e. everyone else in committee. In a double delegate committee, a good delegation will split up the work; one person will be giving speeches and making comments while the other works the back of the room, building consensus and writing the resolution. A single delegation clearly cannot be two places at once, hence it is a disadvantage when other delegations can.

A double delegation, however, needs to coordinate, and that takes more work. It is very easy for a double delegation to contradict itself; one delegate promises another delegate to include a certain idea in the resolution while his or her partner makes a speech denouncing the idea, not realizing the promise that was made. A single delegation doesn't have this issue, so in this way, that is a good thing. Of course, a good double delegation knows its policy and its partners so thoroughly that they will not contradict itself, making this small advantage for the single delegation an ephemeral one, temporary at best, not to be relied upon.

A lot also depends upon the perspective of the chair. Some chairs take pity on the single delegate in the double delegation committee, perhaps giving him or her more speaking time in order to compensate for a lack of partner. A kind chair might even take this into consideration for awards, and come to the conclusion that between two delegations, having done the same amount of work in committee and being equally worthy of the Best Delegate award, the single delegation is more worthy than the double delegation because he or she had to do more work as a single delegate, whereas the double delegation could split the work, or the double delegation had one weak partner and thus split the work unevenly.

But again, this is a small and unreliable advantage. Your chair may not care at all about single or double delegations. Your chair might come to the opposite conclusion, that it is not fair to advantage a single delegate when the conference asked schools to provide double delegations for particular committees; indeed, a conference would not want to penalize the school that actually brought enough delegates to fill all of its assigned spots.

And the perspective of the chair does not matter if the other delegates in the room ignore you because you are a single delegation. Because you, as a single delegate, cannot be two places at once, not only can you not do as much work as a double delegation, but you will not be as visible as a double delegation. When delegates see one part of a double delegation and immediately associates him or her with the delegation as a whole, not just the individual delegate, then the symbol has become more than the individual; Bob and Jane are no longer seen as Bob and Jane but as China, a tag team working together to promote Chinese policy, acting in complete harmony with one another in order to unite the committee around their cause. In other words, the committee tends to respect a team that can really work together; the committee recognizes when a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is much more difficult for the single delegate to obtain this kind of respect.

That being said, there are some things you can do to help your cause (and I'm sorry it takes me so long to get to actionable points, but I think the reasoning behind them is much more important).

A large part of MUN involves winning allies. Not just random allies, and especially not equally ambitious allies who are also intent on winning the committee, but allies that like you--friends, even--people who like partnering with you and promoting your ideas because they like those, too. This concept requires its own article, but the point is this: you can offset your disadvantage of not having a co-delegate if you can forge strong enough alliances.

You are still at a disadvantage; a pair of co-delegates can work the room faster and perhaps more easily than you, a one-person delegation. And once delegates are 'won over' to a certain delegation or caucus bloc, then it becomes much more difficult to win them to 'your side.' But if you hustle early and can create a strong alliance, then it will not matter whether you lack a co-delegate or not; your allies, in effect, become your co-delegates.

But, here's the ultimate question: should it matter? Should not having a co-delegate really matter that much to you? My answer to that question is no.

Of course it will be more difficult to 'win' without a co-delegate, but it should not make committee any less fun or the experience any less enjoyable. You should do the same things you should normally do: have fun, learn something, make friends, and, yes, try to win. I actually believe that when you let go of winning, it comes easier to you, ironically. It doesn't mean you try less; it means that the 'right things' become second nature, and you stop thinking about it so much, and you can just enjoy the activity for what it is. And regardless of whether or not you win an award, that is when you truly become 'Best Delegate.'"

What do you think?

Ode to Jerry Garcia

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:03:00 +0000

In high school, I had a lucky tie. It was this trippy, red Jerry Garcia tie. I just learned that this particular tie has a name: "Poet Absorbs War." Pretty heavy name for a tie. Oddly enough, it was a gift from my parents, I initially didn't think much of it as I wore it to MUN conferences and speech competitions. But as I became more and more successful at these occasions, I slowly realized that I was wearing the same tie. And so it became my lucky tie.

As some misguided act of kinship, I gave this tie to my brother once I graduated from high school. It was more like trying to close a particular chapter of my life as I went to college. And as soon as I signed up for Model UN tryouts at Yale, I missed this tie like a 5-year old misses his security blanket, and I bought a blue version of the same tie. Lo and behold, I made the team, thanks to my new lucky blue tie! Or, so I thought.

At my first college conference, I was ready to kick butt, represent the OC, and rock my new lucky blue tie. Then, one of my newfound teammates pulled me aside. This guy is one of the most well-dressed people I have ever met, and on top of that, he looks a lot like Orlando Bloom. And in his warm, Turkish accent, he said, "Ryan, I saw your tryout, and I thought to myself: great speaker, terrible tie."

Welcome to college MUN.

Please don't judge me

I've come a long way from wearing Jerry Garcia ties. I've learned that, although dressing well is not necessary for doing well, it certainly helps. It's part of the broader picture, i.e. the way you present yourself. Like it or not, people are judgmental, and evaluate you on first impressions. This may seem unfair, but it may not be without an element of truth. And, in a way, how you dress is a manifestation of how you see yourself.

After spending some time on the Yale MUN team, I learned that everyone had their own style. One guy was the model investment banker in personality and look, with a shrewd, direct, I-only-mean-business-or-else-get-out-of-my-face demeanor, impeccably matched by a prim, blue Brooks Brothers shirt with white executive collars and French cuffs, complete with gold tie, watch, and cuff links. Another guy was the charming, charismatic Croatian with Colin Farell good looks, and the only person I know who was European enough (read: fashion forward) who could pull off an orange dress shirt. One girl loved pretty little designer shoes with high heels, to make her look taller. And another girl wore six-inch stilettos with clear glass heels. Why? I don't know...

The "Fashion Forward" Yale MUN Team

Surprisingly, despite our perceived dorkiness, MUNers are pretty fashionable. Maybe not as much in high school, when many students are not used to dressing professionally, and so just put on whatever they have; I personally borrowed my dad's suit until I was a junior. And maybe not as much in American MUN as compared to European MUN. I've had many a conversation with Europeans about how they're brought up with a more sophisticated fashion sense, and from what I've seen, I've come to believe it (i.e. Croatian guy mentioned above).

But once you get to college, European or not, fashion becomes a part of MUN strategy. The West Point delegates certainly command a presence, wearing their class A uniforms to the first and last committee sessions. You can also tell which delegates know how to rock a suit; these delegates have it cut just right, so that it brings out their natural body shape. An obvious sign of a well-cut suit is that the sleeves are cut just short enough that a little bit of shirt cuff can show, especially if you're wearing French cuffs.

And I need to verify this statistically, but I bet you see more solid red power ties on the first night of the conference, when people are just meeting each other, and the last full day of a conference (typically Saturday), when delegates are finishing and voting on resolutions. Both occasions demand confidence, and a solid red power tie is meant to say just that.

Heck, I'm guilty of this strategy, except with a twist. In college, I noticed that the first committee session of a 4-day conference, like UPenn's or Harvard's, takes place in the evening. To these sessions, I liked to wear a dark, wine-red tie with a blue satin shirt. These colors were carefully chosen to compliment the evening mood, when people want to meet each other but not exert that much energy doing so; think of those old black and white movies with people having polite conversation and evening cocktails in someone's apartment on the Upper East Side. The tie was purposefully not bright red, because then it would look like I was trying too hard. And satin has a smooth, silky, soft texture to it, which is very inviting at night.

The intended effect was not only to display confidence, but also to look like a warm person that was easy to speak to. And as I walked around the room, meeting people before session formally began, while the dais was still setting up, I hoped that my presence, amplified by what I was wearing, eased the tensions of those first sessions, and put people in a good mood. Of course, what I said and how I said it must have mattered more, but the entire package--from my words to my manners to my clothes--were all part of a cohesive strategy to look like a leader of the committee, and to position myself advantageously so as to actually become one.

Ignore the belt...

Let me make clear that I am no fashion expert; I am merely a student of fashion. But in future posts, I hope to offer actual suggestions on how to dress for MUN conferences.

And what happened to my Jerry Garcia tie(s)? Well, my brother went off to college, and in his own misguided act of kinship, left my red tie at home because he didn't want to wear it. I stopped bringing my blue tie to conferences, though I did wear it to special events with the Yale Model UN team. Now, it just sits in my closet. But whenever I look at pictures of the Yale team or my high school MUN team, I see a younger version of myself, and I get nostalgic thinking of people I've met and things I've learned, and I think, "Great speaker; terrible tie!"

I've come a long way from wearing Jerry Garcia ties

Model UN and the Real UN: A Call to Global Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:52:00 +0000

The 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly begins today. In his opening address, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon trumpeted a call to global leadership. You can read the text of his speech here.

Whether in Model UN or the real UN, a delegate or head of state, leadership is not something that comes about easily, but it is the true test of whatever role you play, whatever responsibility you undertake. I'm definitely not saying that being a Best Delegate makes you qualified to be a world leader, but I certainly believe that being a good leader helps you become a Best Delegate, and in more ways than a sheet of paper or a piece of wood would presume.

To be completely honest, though, I'm a wannabe speechwriter, and I actually think the SecGen's speech reads kind of flat. Indeed, most UN speeches seem pretty stale. Except for Chavez and Ahmadinejad, who use the UN as a PR tool, most world leaders will not be on television, and they are not trying to convince anyone in the General Assembly Hall of anything. I haven't read a lot of UN speeches, but they generally seem to rehash the same themes over and over. Most, if not all, countries have decided their stance on the policies that matter most to them, and one speech is not going to change that; this isn't a presidential campaign.

And despite the Secretary-General's noble call, I imagine that world leaders and global politics will continue business as usual. Oh, if only this were not the case, and the speech of one man could be drowned out by the cry of millions in poverty around the world, softening the hardened hearts of those who actually have the power to save them.

Of course, your speeches don't have to be flat; your ideas don't need to be stale; your courage, conviction, and passion--your leadership--can change the minds of those around you. And maybe, someday, the power to save will come to those who will.

Btw, Ban Ki-Moon is a huge fan of MUN. Check out his speech at the UNA-USA MUN conference this past May:

Pushers and Leaders: How to Handle Power Delegates in Caucus

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Standing around with other people during unmoderated caucus, do you ever notice those delegates who purposefully try to dominate the conversation? They talk as much as they can, shout down anyone else who tries to speak, and they become even more annoying when the chair walks nearby. These delegates think that talking a lot scores them points with the chair, earns them a leadership role amongst their fellow delegates, and ultimately will help them win an award.

A bad chair, who doesn't actually know what's going on in committee, and only sees one person talking, may think that this delegate is in control. But in reality, these power delegates just alienate everyone else and earn no respect from fellow delegates. They try so hard to win by dominating everyone else and write the resolution on their own, when most of the time, they just end up in a caucus bloc with other power delegates who are ironically thinking the same thing. They believe they're leading the caucus and winning the committee, but they actually prevent any real work from getting done.

Here's a quick tip for handling a power delegate that isolates them, lets other people speak, and makes you look good in the process. (Note that this applies moreso to the beginning of a conference when everyone is still trying to get to know one another, it still has general applications)

Let the power delegate speak for a little bit and let him make his point, listening politely like you would for any other person. As soon as he's done with his point, he'll most likely to attempt to keep rambling on and make additional incoherent points without listening to other people. This is his attempt to assert dominance. Power delegate: "The US believes we should send in troops. And then hold elections. And then start an education program. Education, education, education, blah blah blah..."

But before he can launch into a one-man show that wastes everyone else's time, cut him off--by asking him a question. (Huh? Won't this make talk more? Keep reading...) Direct it specifically at him; ask him to rephrase or clarify something he said. He might not expect this; he's most likely used to just plowing ahead. But he'll most likely take this as an opportunity to keep talking; you asked him a question, after all. You: "Excuse me, US, but what kind of education program did you have in mind?"

As soon as he's done with his response, and before he can launch into a new, unrelated point, direct a new question at someone else in the caucus bloc. You can ask this other person if he agrees with the power delegate. Or, you can ask a rhetorical question to another delegate, in order to let this other delegate speak. You: "Ghana, didn't you have a similar idea about an education program?"

Now you're letting this other delegate speak. As long as this delegate is making his point, then the power delegate can't just cut him off without obviously looking rude, or more obviously rude than he was before. Once this delegate finishes his point, and before the power delegate can jump in, direct another related question at another delegate. You: "India, I think you have this particular education program in your country, don't you?"

Soon, you've asked everyone in the caucus bloc a question, and given everyone a chance to speak. Assuming there's time left in the committee--and there might not be, which is the risk to this technique--now it's your time to speak. And you can either use this time to give your country's position, or, even better, use it to start writing the resolution. You: "Well, I think we all agree that education should be part of the resolution. I think everyone likes this part of India's program, and this part of Ghana's idea. Let's write them down." Booyah--now you're the author of the resolution.

This tactic may seem counter-intuitive, but think of it this way. If you are the one asking and directing questions, chances are that the delegates speaking are talking directly to you. This makes you look like a leader. On top of that, you are allowing other people to speak and voice their ideas; you are connecting the people in the caucus bloc to one another. And because you are the driving force behind this connection, you really are the leader. And this, of course, is the signature characteristic of a true best delegate: leadership.

There's a lot more nuance to this technique, like if everyone doesn't agree on a particular issue, or if the topic is too broad to cover in a couple caucus sessions, or if everyone in the group is a power delegate (in which case you probably should just find another caucus bloc). And there are also certain risks involved. As already mentioned, this tactic takes time to execute. But more importantly, a bad chair only sees the talkers, not the listeners. So if you have a bad chair, then this technique may not make you immediately noticeable, although in the long run, if it helps you win friends and allies who will help and promote you because you are not a power delegate, i.e. a jerk, then it will help you.

And in a way, this technique is somewhat ironic. The power delegate thinks that he can control the caucus by talking. The best delegate, on other hand, actually control the caucus by listening. In most social situations, including MUN committees, people think that the person speaking is in control. And if you let him speak, he is. But the person speaking is entirely dependent on the people who are listening. Therefore, it is the delegate who chooses to whom people will listen--by directing questions and connecting people to one another--that truly controls the debate.

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:39:00 +0000

So posting quick updates to this site hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be. And if you know what's happening on Wall Street, then I hope you'll forgive me for not writing lately. But now I have some time. So I hope to post something in the next couple hours...

Bringing BestDelegate.com Back

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:55:00 +0000

School has started and so has the MUN season, which means BestDelegate.com is back from a Summer-long suspension of debate!

First, a personal update. I graduated from Yale this past May with a degree in Political Science. My class was fortunate to have former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a graduation speaker. After spending a month at home in Orange County, I traveled with several friends throughout Europe. We met through volunteering for UNA-USA, and being the hardcore MUNers we are, we brought a gavel with us and took pictures with it. The trip ended with me almost getting gored by a bull in Spain. Finally, I moved to NYC and started a new job on Wall Street.

Sitting here, updating this site for the first time in a long time, I'm thankful for the experiences I've had because of Model UN. The success I had doing MUN in high school helped me get into college. The people I met in YIRA, through MUNTY, and throughout the MUN college circuit are some of my best friends. The skills I've learned through MUN have proven to be very helpful in my current job. Heck, I met my girlfriend through UNA-USA.

Some come from interesting backgrounds; others have experienced extreme hardship. For me, Model UN has been very much a personal journey.

And though my career as a delegate is over, I hope to still have some fun with MUN through this website. Since I am no longer in college and actually have to work for a living, I don't have as much time as I'd like to update. I hope that simply means shorter and less theoretical posts more often. And while I still plan to share strategies and tips (as long as I can remember them...), I think I'll have more a focus on how the skills developed to MUN actually apply to the Real World.

And I'm still looking for writers! Let me know if you're interested! E-mail ryan@bestdelegate.com.

Some pics from my European Vacation:

"Viva La Revolucion!"
The Louvre in Paris, France

The small coastal town of Denia, Spain

"Toros a la Mar"
An annual festival in which
People run with the bulls...
Into the sea!!!

Update: No Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:59:00 +0000

I'm sorry I haven't been posting updates, but I wanted to assure everyone that I will continue blogging as soon as my senior essay is finished...sorry!